Citation and License

Arthritis Research & Therapy 2008, 10:R27
doi:10.1186/ar2380

Published: 29 February 2008

Abstract

Introduction

Elevated serum high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) has been reported in established
osteoarthritis (OA). The aim of this study was to determine whether serum levels of
hsCRP are associated with the variation in tibial and patella cartilage volumes in
women without evidence of OA.

Methods

Participants were recruited from a database established from the Australian electoral
roll, and were aged 40 to 67 years, were not hysterectomized and had no significant
knee pain or knee injury in the last 5 years. Tibial and patella cartilage volumes
were measured from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of each woman's dominant knee
and hsCRP measured in serum. Linear regression models were used to explore the major
determinants of variation in both tibial and patella cartilage volume and to assess
whether serum hsCRP made an independent contribution to variation in the volumes of
cartilage in the two knee compartments.

Results

The mean age of the 176 participants was 52.3 ± 6.6 years. Compared with a standard
model for tibial cartilage volume that included bone area, age, smoking and alcohol
status, the addition of an hsCRP term made an independent negative contribution to
variation in tibial cartilage volume, irrespective of whether body mass index (BMI)
was included in the model or not. By contrast, using a similar approach, hsCRP did
not contribute independently to variation in patella cartilage volume.

Conclusion

In asymptomatic women aged 40 to 67 years, serum hsCRP is independently negatively
associated with the volume of tibial but not patella cartilage suggesting that subclinical
inflammation may predispose to knee cartilage loss in the tibial compartment. This
should be further assessed by a longitudinal study.